Stóra-Sara

Giant Sara

These cookies with ground almonds / marzipan, butter cream and chocolate coating are often found in Scandinavia, in very different versions. By the way, the original recipe is a Danish invention in honor of the French actress Sarah Bernhardt (1844 - 1923): the crowds cheered her on her first visit to Copenhagen in 1880. When she visited Denmark again in 1911 to present her biography, one of Copenhagen's leading patisseries is said to have created this pastry in her honor.

In Denmark there is "Sarah Bernhardt Kager", in Sweden there is "biskvier" - and in Iceland a piece is called "Sara" and in the plural it is "Sörur". By the way, it is typical of Icelandic recipes that there is still a bit of coffee flavor in the cream.

I already have several recipes for "Sörur" here on the blog, in addition to the classic version with marzipan there is also a version with licorice .

When I came across a recipe for a giant Sara as a "cake" in an Icelandic magazine with Christmas recipes, I immediately knew - I had to try it!

Ingredients

100 g raisins

3 Tbsp raspberry vinegar

warm water

4 egg whites

1 pinch of salt

200 g powdered sugar

200 g ground almonds

4 Tbsp maple syrup

4 egg yolks

250 g soft butter

2 tsp cocoa powder

2 Tbsp instant cappuccino powder

1 pinch of ground vanilla

80 g dark chocolate

1 Tbsp almond flakes or similar for decoration

Preparation

The night before, place the raisins with the raspberry vinegar in a suitable container, add warm water until the raisins are covered and then soak overnight.

Then prepare the cake the next day:

Preheat the oven to 350 °F (180 °C) upper/lower heat.

Separate the eggs.

Beat the egg whites well with the salt until stiff.

Fold in the powdered sugar and ground almonds.

Draw three circles with a diameter of approx. 16 cm on baking paper, spread the dough on the circles...

...and bake in a preheated oven at 350 °F (180 °C) for about 20 minutes until the bases are lightly browned.

Take the bases out of the oven and let them cool.

Heat the maple syrup in a pot.

Add the egg yolks to the pot with the warm maple syrup and beat thoroughly.

Then add the butter in small pieces and stir in slowly.

Drain off the excess water from the raisins and then puree them.

Now the cocoa powder, the instant cappuccino powder...

...and add the pureed raisins and mix everything into a smooth cream.

Then let the cream set in the fridge for at least 2 hours.

When the cream has a good consistency and is no longer too runny, layer the cake:

Place the first layer on a cake plate and spread with a third of the cream.

Place the second base on top and spread with the second third of the cream.

Place the third layer on top and spread with the last third of the cream.

Then put the cake in the freezer for a good hour.

Melt the dark chocolate in a water bath and pour it onto the top cream layer.

Decorate with roasted almond flakes, chopped almonds or similar to taste.

Then put the cake back in the freezer.

Take it out of the freezer and let it thaw about half an hour before serving. Well then - bon appetit!

[Translated from here.]